Frank Neubelt On The Growing Appeal Of Explorer Yachts

By Paul Joseph

06 Oct 2015

German yacht designer Frank Neubelt has enjoyed a rich and diverse career, but his latest venture could be his most exciting yet.

In 2000, he founded Newcruise, Yacht Project & Design and the company went on to create multiple award-winning superyachts. Almost half-a-century later, he moved on to create NC2 - German Yacht Project Cooperation with his business partner and long-term friend Broder Hansen.

Now he is turning his attention to the growing demand for exploration yachts. We sat down with Mr Neubelt at the 2015 Monaco Yacht Show to find out more.

“From 2010 I always had the idea of how could exploration yachts work,” he said. “We developed two or three, built them, and in the last few years I found a very nice cooperation with Hawk Yachts, which is led by Captain Bosse, who is Captain of “Lady Moura” here in Monte Carlo and who we have known for a very long time.

“He is a real navigator who has a lot of experience and he sailed around the word. He invited me to create under his label three types of yachts, so we did this as a joint venture which we have presented here at the show.

“So there’s a new generation, whether it’s young people or younger owners, stepping fresh into the market who do not just want to go sailing in glamorous areas. If they have three weeks on St Tropez beach, that’s ok, but they also want to go somewhere else.

"I always wanted to go and visit the penguins, or even to go to other places like the Amazon or Pacific, and you need yachts which are capable of going there, which you can put enough provisions and fuelling in to make these long journeys. There are some explorers which are meant to be explorers but are just fashion. They are beautiful in styling but there’s a difference between real exploration yachts and yachts that give this feeling that you could go.”

You can watch the full video interview with Frank Neubelt above this article.